With Congress back from recess, the fight for sweeping legislation to
reform the patent system may be entering its final stages -- according to
members of the Coalition for Patent Fairness, the association representing
companies supporting the bill.

Groups negotiating the Patent Reform Act reached a compromise on the majority of the provisions before the recess, leaving only a few issues still unresolved. Active discussions are currently taking place at both the staffer and member levels, said Mark Isakowitz, a spokesman for the coalition.

A spokeswoman for Sen. Harry Reid's office confirmed that the majority
leader was committed to introducing the bill before the next recess eight
weeks from now, and possibly as early as next week.

"We feel like the momentum is on our side. I am personally optimistic
about this bill," Isakowitz said. "We're picking up some signals from people
around town that we are in endgame."

If approved by the Senate, the bill would be the first major overhaul of
the U.S. patent system in more than 50 years. Firmly backed by a broad group
of companies within the tech industry, the legislation faces sharp
opposition from pharmaceutical and biotechnical companies, organized labor
and many industry groups.

Ronald J. Riley, president of the Professional Inventors Alliance (PIA),
argues that any crowing about the bill's imminent passage is premature, and
that it still faces real obstacles in the Senate.

"They don't have the votes," said Riley. "Reid's got to convince Democrats to go against organized labor. I just can't imagine Senators who are Democrats going on an official position against organized labor."

"If he brings it to the floor, it's going to go down in flames," he
added.

Chief among the criticisms of the bill is that it favors large companies
who can amass large portfolios of relatively insignificant patents, while
raising the entry barrier for small companies or individuals who could be
priced out of the patent application process.

Gregory Fossedal, co-founder and chairman of the financial services
company Freedmand's LLC, is an outspoken critic of the bill, but he admitted
that its proponents had lobbied effectively on its behalf.

"I've got to take my hat off on this. They've moved it through the House
and Senate very quietly," he told InternetNews.com.

The impact on future generations

Patent reform, Fossedal said, is "more important than the Bear Stearns
bailout, NAFTA and the Bush tax cuts combined in the impact it will have on
the next generation."

Both opponents and supporters of the bill agree that the patent system is
not working as effectively as it should.

"We need patent reform; we just need the reform to go the other way,"
Fossedal said, arguing that the process needs to become less arcane and more
hospitable to smaller companies.

Joining Isakowitz on this morning's conference call were attorneys who
had been lobbying for large tech companies in support of the bill.
According to Chuck Fish, a vice president and chief patent counsel for Time
Warner (NYSE: TWX), the only points on which the senators had yet to agree
were comparatively minor within the scope of the entire bill.